Overview
- Analyses suicide in youth films
- Multidisciplinary framework rooted in Sociology
- Offers a proactive approach for young audiences to watch movies as empowered individuals
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Table of contents (13 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
This book explores the depiction of suicide in American youth films from 1900 to 2019. Anchored in Sociology, this multidisciplinary study investigates the causes and consequences of suicide and uncovers the socio-cultural context for the development of youth, film, and suicide. While such cinematic portrayals seem to privilege external explanations of suicide versus internal or psychological ones, overall they are neither rich nor sensitive. Most are simplistic, limited or at the very least unbalanced. At times, they are flatly controversial. In light of this overall problematic depiction of suicide, this book offers a proactive approach to empower young audiences—a media literacy strategy to embrace while watching these films.
Reviews
“The book is written as an act of service for all unfortified youth, reading like a voice that cuts through static to say, ‘I’m here, I’m listening.’ To take things up a level, this book is not just a helpful tool for youth but also for anyone who has been affected by suicide. …” (Kate Brennan, Fulbright Chronicles, Vol. 2 (4), 2024)
“Seggi’s interdisciplinary evaluation of this serious topic is a necessary addition to the research on youth and their sensitive roles in American culture. Taking perspectives from the fields of film studies, media literacy, sociology, psychology, and public health, the analysis is both precise and proactive, offering an insightful accounting of trends and influences related to teen suicide while building an effective model for understanding youth media and empowering this vulnerable population. The book is thus essential as both a unique intellectual resource and a pedagogical tool that will serve teachers and students alike.” (Timothy Shary Author of Generation Multiplex: The Image of Youth in Contemporary American Cinema Co-editor of ReFocus: The Films of John Hughes)“Located at the intersection of sociology, media studies, and psychology, Alessandra Seggi’s Youth and Suicide in American Cinema: Context, Causes, and Consequences offers a methodologically rigorous, theoretically rich, and comprehensive analysis of suicide in films about youth. It is an important contribution to the growing literature about representations of adolescence in cinema.” (Robert C. Bulman Professor, Sociology Saint Mary’s College of California Author of Hollywood Goes to High School: Cinema, Schools, and American Culture)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Alessandra Seggi is a Fulbright scholar and an award-winning artist. At Temple University, USA, her research and teaching focus on the intersection of the social sciences and media. She is currently working on an innovative project combining drawings with rhymes and traditional texts to illustrate the key dynamics of social life.
“For a list of recent conference and event appearances, please visit alessandraseggi.com/related-events/”
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Youth and Suicide in American Cinema
Book Subtitle: Context, Causes, and Consequences
Authors: Alessandra Seggi
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08686-1
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media Studies, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-031-08685-4Published: 28 October 2022
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-031-08688-5Published: 28 October 2023
eBook ISBN: 978-3-031-08686-1Published: 27 October 2022
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XXIII, 341
Number of Illustrations: 22 b/w illustrations
Topics: American Cinema and TV, Youth Culture, Popular Culture